Pages

Sunday, 21 December 2014

The picture of a sweet girl in a sepia
background, holding a photo-frame in her hands and her forlorn lost and lonely
eyes adorns the cover of the debut book of Jaasindah R Mir, The escaped
moments. Yes, I was confused and didn’t know what to make out of the cover once
I had the book in my hands. I had spent a lot of time in thinking about the
cover and I am sure that the cover is such that it will be in the mind for a
long time. When I turned to read the blurb of the book, here is what was in
stock for me…

According to the blurb- Aatirah Rohail Kazi, a fifteen-year-old small town girl of Kahsmir,
has only seen the grey shades of childhood since her mother died. There are a lot
of things Aatirah hates about her life: her cruel step-mother, her dad and her
moronic step brother. For the past five years Aatirah has hidden her troubles
from everyone. It’s only when she finds Mysha at a social networking site, she
confides into her. But now things are getting complicated: Mysha wants Aatirah
to solve a complex love triangle between Mysha, Sahir and Tamanna. To top it
all off, Aatirah has taken to smoking out of stress. Would Aatirah be
successful at grabbing the freedom of her heart by opening up to a distant
person or does the desire of having a friend to confide into have a bigger
price to pay?

Social Networking ever since its beginning
has been the cause of many things good and bad for a person. When some people
just intend to have fun there, some people make friends there and who knows?
Maybe they become their only friends for a life! Through this book, Jaasindah
has brought in view the aspects of social networking. When one girl takes it to
be their confidante, you might never know who exactly is on the other side of
the computer and what the real intention is.

Coming to the characters, I would say that
the character of Aatirah had a very earthly feeling with it. Any fifteen year
old girl having problems in with her dark childhood might relate to the
vulnerability that the character has. Coming to Sahir, Mysha and Tamanna, I
would say that their characters also can make an impact on the readers making
them think of their ‘once upon a time’ friends on social networking times.

The way the descriptions have been made, is
very proper and you can actually transport yourself to the place of the characters
of the book and feel Kashmir from your heart. That is something most people are
not capable of doing. The character descriptions, place descriptions have been
wonderfully done making the readers want more. Thought the main characters of
the book were quite numbered, the side characters at times might confuse the
readers.

For the negative parts of the book, I must
say that there were grammatical errors of the book. The thought behind the story was nice,
narrating style even better but I felt that somewhere at some point, it
could’ve been better. For the end, I thought that the ‘something new’
‘something else’ thirst was there. The prologue was nice and so was the
epilogue. I loved the lines used in the poem at the end of the book. A
promising writer, a nice work in place of a debut and I wish to read more from
the writer in the future. For me, it is 3.5 out of 5.

Sunday, 14 December 2014

I totally agree to the line stated above. Fear is surely a fact that exists and one has to take risks in life to be able to succeed the mission and rise above the fears. Fears can be of different things, different people depending on the person. Some might fear stray dogs, for some might fear something big but life doesn’t stop. You cannot stop going to a road that leads to your destination because your fear is more dominant in it. Overcoming the fear is something that everyone should do to succeed in life. For me, I fear so many things, some things really silly while some where threatening. But there is one fear I had overcome while on a vacation with my family.

Hill stations, I love them. Once, on a vacation with my family I had visited this lesser known hill station. Steep narrow lanes through the mountains led our way to the destination. It was night by the time we reached our hotel. Having nothing much to do, sitting by the bonfire we spent the whole night, never knowing what the next day morning had in stock for us.

Mornings at hill stations are quite serene if we can call it so… Beautiful, enriching, lively. It is something that one can die for. So enticing that one can stare at it for hours at a stretch. But I had lots of things to do that day so I didn’t have the time to sit and stare at the morning passing by. We had to move to our sightseeing.

After a whole day of sightseeing we finally went to a place that was mostly like a fountain. Rocks, pebbles and water. After one point, all I could see was water running down the mountain and I knew, if anyone slips, he/she would be dead and the chances of finding the body were weak. Very weak.

I am a kind of person who loves clicking pictures and capturing moments. That day, on a photography spree I went ahead on two three rocks to click pictures, and through the cam lens, saw the whole view. Suddenly, I heard panic. As I looked back, there were so many people pointing at one direction and shouting ‘save him’

I tried going back to my original place, and was going to slip once or twice while going. Somehow I managed to go back to my place. I ran to the place where people were standing to get a better view of knowing what was happening. As soon as I saw a boy, in his early teens struggling to hold a rock to save on his life, I ran to the safety department of the spot.

Life savers came and pulled the boy back to the rock, thus saving his life. His parents, who were howling till then, sobbed hugging their
son back. Kissed him. And hugged him as if it was the end of the world. Everyone had tears in their eyes. And that day, I overcame one great fear I had… The fear of losing a beloved! Because then I knew, when it’s not the time, no one can take anyone away from a person, every one conspires to keep them together.!

Monday, 8 December 2014

A boxing ring in the background with a
wonder blue color in it, a guy and a girl walking down a rain drenched lane;
the cover of Nidhie Sharma’s debut novel Dancing with Demons has it all. What
makes the cover more interesting is the ‘Soon to be made into a Bollywood film’
tag on its cover. The even better part? The tagline that says- ‘Can you love
yourself without forgiving yourself?’

According to the blurb- Karan Pratap Singh is on the brink of
winning the Amateur Boxing Championship, when in a moment, he loses it all. His
fall from glory seems fuelled by ruthless arrogance and an out-of-control anger
management problem. That, however, is just symptomatic of a deeper issue.
Buried under layers of his fractured subconscious lies a childhood secret he
cannot come to terms with. Sonia Kapoor is a beautiful, volatile young woman
with a secret that torments her at night but a secret that she feels no guilt
for. When fate throws Karan and Sonia together in Mumbai, their personal demons
and pasts collide and stir up trouble in their fragile and uncertain present.
But, is redemption possible without forgiveness? Dancing with Demons is a
fast-paced action drama of love, loss and resurrection.

Just as I complete writing down the blurb,
I cannot ignore the awesome silhouette of a guy in the back cover staring back
at me. And I know for sure just then, Karan Pratap Singh is going to be my man
throughout the book. Just in cue, as I started this book, I get bowled over by
Karan. The descriptions used in the book were enough for letting the readers
brood over their imaginations for putting their best mind forward.

The book starts with an intense boxing scene.
To be frank, I was not much into the boxing thing, neither did I like the
sport, but this book made me like boxing like never before. The ongoing in the
fight were written so minutely that I must bow down to the authoress for
researching on it so well. As I was reading about Karan and his journey, I was
wondering where Sonia will come into the scene.

And when she does, she actually blows away
the mind. The lives of both Karan and Sonia have been well described. Though
the authoress has tried her level best in keeping some scenes in suspense but
one could at least guess a part of those scenes at a few places. The story, in
itself is very new to look at because there aren’t many novels these days
having a combat sport as its main essence.

The intricacies of the sport have been
described very well inside the book. The narrating style of the story has been
flowing very nicely, giving it a very realistic touch. This is one story which
I would like to compliment by saying that this book is actually written to be
made to a film. Talking of films, I guess Arjun Rampal or Neil Nitin Mukesh
might perfectly fit in the book! I would’ve liked the book more if there were a
few more scenes related to Karan and Sonia together and if a few errors weren’t
there. Apart from that, it’s a 4 on 5 for me.

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

Life in a rectangle or rather LIAR as the
author refers to it, is a wonderful narrative penned down by Sujit Sanyal- it's
author. Going down the lane of memories is something most people love doing but
penning them down so beautifully is something, only a powerful author like
Mr.Sanyal can do. A hardbound book with bold colors and wonderful pages made me
fall for the book at first glance. And more so, I believe the title gives its
much needed feel. A non-fiction I felt at first, this book is one worth read
book as one turns the pages.

According to the blurb- Author Sujit Sanyal rambles down the memory
lane in his candid memoir and narrates some revealing, some intriguing and
other wacky stories about the advertising world from his Clarion days, his
first agency, which he joined as a trainee and whose Kolkata branch he later
went on to head.

I can very well say that this one of the
best non-fiction memoir I have read till date. A memoir on Mr.Sanyal’s time in
the advertising world is filled with accounts old and new. Any reader could
connect to every word written there even if they do not know the abc of
advertising. Being a Bengali and that too based in Kolkata, the places, the
names of people and a few Bengali words used in the book gives me this feeling
of home-coming which very few books have given me till date.

Apart from that, I felt that the narrating
style Mr.Sanyal has chosen gives the reader a very perfect and smooth flow to
go on with. The chapter divisions were short and crisp and that would make the
book an even easier read. The author had the talent of keeping the readers
gripped into the novel and I want to congratulate the author for doing so.
Mr.Sanyal has chosen very wisely about what all to include in the book and what
not and have given a dose of everything in the book.

The tenure of the author from being an
employee to the head of the company was a ride too nice. Numerous kinds of
people were involved and the fact being this one real life memoir gave in
itself a feeling of nostalgia. The people of that time seem to actually live in
front of your eyes once you read the book. The characters come alive in the book
and that is one affect that the author keeps for a long time.

Inspite of all these interesting facts,
lesser known things and a wonderful writing style I think that the book is not
meant for every age of people to read. The teenagers might not like the book
owing to the topic it has been written upon but on the other hand the people a
bit elder to them might relish this book with an evening tea in hand, being
nostalgic at the days they had left back and moved on in life.

The book is not
only about advertising, it is about much more and the all in all feel of the
book adds to the charm of it. I would like to congratulate the author for
writing such a wonderful book and would wait for many others to come specially
something targeted to the fiction loving audience. For me, the book is a 4.5
out of 5.

Monday, 1 December 2014

For the people of today's 'literary' world, being known and being published is one of the biggest goals in life. For all those who are reading this now and having the same wish, here is a wonder opportunity for you all...

Dear Friends,

This is to announce
the launch of Read Fingers, a platform for writers, publishers, readers from
India and around the world.

In its first edition, Read
Fingers are inviting writers to submit their work in following topics : Season
of Love, Personal/Political, Crime Fiction, and Poetry. Translations from other
languages into English will also be considered. We accept excerpts from longer
pieces, such as chapters from a novel, provided it stands alone as a complete
work, we will not publish incomplete stories.

The Preferred word count can
variable though; prose pieces have an upper limit of 6,000 words.

Deadline: December 31, 2014.

Email your submissions to
info@readfingers.com, with ‘RF Submissions’ in the subject line.

Ensure the following and you
can get published:

You may submit up to three
pieces of work at a time, under different genres.

Please ensure that the work
you send us is free of spelling errors, typographical errors, grammatical
errors or syntactical errors.

All submissions must be
original and previously unpublished.

Submissions are accepted on a
rolling basis (not clear), and the date of online publication is the sole
discretion of the editorial board.

We are a penniless start-up,
so we don’t pay. We promise to discontinue this practice as soon as we can. So
we request you to be with us till then and enjoy the journey.